Are you looking for some last minute fall decorations that are easy and fun to make, that will not give you tons of frustration and make your bank account cry? Do you have old books laying around that you just never get around to donating? If so, then this is the DIY project for you! You can easily turn a few of those old books into pumpkins! Plus, it only takes about 15 minutes to make these amazing decorations!
What you will need:
An old book
Hot glue gun
Green ribbon
Sharp scissors
Paper
Orange spray paint
Stick from your yard
Step 1
Get a regular sheet of paper, and draw the shape of a pumpkin. You want to make sure it is not too big or too small, because it will need to be traced onto the book itself. Try to make sure that the shape of the pumpkin is even on both sides. Once you have completed your drawing and are happy with your shape, you will want to cut it out. Next, fold the pumpkin in half.
Step 2
Tear the front and back cover off the book and fold your cut out pumpkin shape around the book. The cut out of the pumpkin should cover most of the book. Now, carefully trace the shape onto the one side of the book.
Step 3
Time to start cutting! You can use a cutting blade for this part, but I found that using a sharp pair of scissors was easier. Try to cut 15 to 30 pages at a time. You are going to be cutting the round shape of the pumpkin, leaving the binding of the cover intact. It should look like this:
Step 4
Continue cutting until you have all the pages cut out. You can easily tear the access pages attached to the binding. Once you have everything cut out, trim any of the edges that are uneven or have torn or rough edges.
Step 5
On one side of the cover, make a strip of glue with your hot glue gun on the front or back of the inside pages that were attached to the cover. Next, take the page you glued, and attach it to the other page that was attached to the cover. Now you can fan out all the pages to get the desired look of a pumpkin. It should look something like this:
Step 6
Take your paper pumpkin outside and spray paint it orange! I sprayed my pumpkin for about ten seconds, holding it several feet away. You do not want to spray too much as you still want people to be able to tell it is a book. You just want to get a nice orange coating.
Find a branch outside, length of which is up to you. Put a huge glob of hot glue on the center of the pumpkin where all the pages meet, and attach the branch. Do not worry if glue is showing, the ribbon you attach at the end will cover it. Once the branch is firmly in place, pull apart the pages again, and make sure you have a full looking pumpkin.
Step 7
Wait at least 30 minutes for the paint to dry and now all that is left to do is tie the ribbon around the stick. This can be a little tricky, and may take a few tries, but you can do it! Just make sure the ribbon is firmly tied into a bow so that when you move it, it does not come loose. Vuala! You now have a book made out of a pumpkin that will dazzle your guests!
By: Lauren DiDonato